Gilles elie cohen

vikings & panthers

In the beginning of the 80’s photographer Gilles Elie Cohen met a band of kids called “The Vikings” around la Villette’s neighbourhood.

They were a sub-culture group of fifties rock’n’roll fiends with a love for vintage cars, 50’s outfits and dancing. It’s by hanging out with them that the photographer got to know the “Black Panthers” as well, an anti-fascist group who had borrowed their name from the political American activists. For their clothing, style and way of life, these two groups attracted Gilles Cohen's attention; he took his lens to capture their fights against the neo-nazi skinheads, their parties and their lives in the streets of greater Paris. It's a great document of Parisian youth counterculture of the eighties.

His photographs can be seen at the exhibition “Vikings & Panthers” at the Parisian ADDICT! Gallery until May 2nd. Note that the gallery has some prints leftovers from the exhibition “Kurt Cobain – The Last Shooting” from Youri Lenquette. Hurry up!

 

14/16 rue de Thorigny, 75003, Paris.